June 20-2014
Two weeks after the senior culprit in Iran’s largest fraud case was executed, a Tehran court has acquitted 29 other defendants.
The state news agency said the judge ruled to acquit all of them based on documents before the court. But the prosecution objected and said it would take the case to an appeals court.
On May 24, the senior person convicted earlier in the case, Mah-Afarid Amir-Khosravi, was hanged inside Evin prison.
Khosravi, also known as Amir Mansur Aria, was one of four men sentenced to death in the $2.6 billion fraud case.
Altogether, 35 people were convicted two years ago in the fraud case, with the prosecution saying others would be tried later. It wasn’t announced if the 29 acquitted last week conclude the case or if still others remain to face the court.
The case involves allegations of using forged documents to obtain loans that were used to buy businesses being privatized by the state. Seven banks were said to have been involved.
The one senior level bank official named in the case is Mahmud-Reza Khavari, who was the head of Iran’s largest bank, state-owned Bank Melli, at the time of the fraud. He fled to Canada, where he had received citizenship years earlier and owns a $3 million home in Toronto. Iran has been calling for his extradition. The Canadian government has remained mum on the case and Khavari still lives in Toronto.